A 13-1 start to the 2019-2020 season that included a double-digit victory at #1 ranked Johnson County Community College, combined with recent hiccups by teams at the head of the Division Two poll, have sent the North Central Missouri College Pirates to a first-ever #1 ranking in NJCAA Division Two.
Voters were quite split on deciding the top team in the country in the rankings released on Monday, with NCMC receiving 5 of the 10 first-place votes and a total of 192 points, surging from the program’s #5 ranking just one week before. Behind the Pirates in the #2 position, interestingly not receiving a first-place vote, but 170 points, is Niagara County of New York. Three other Midwest teams, in addition to North Central Missouri College, are in the top five, with Milwaukee (WI) Area Tech third (one first-place vote), North Iowa Area fourth (two first-place votes) and Des Moines Area fifth.
Johnson County moved up three spots in the national poll this week, from #10 to #7, with the Cavaliers receiving one first-place vote and 143 points. The other first-place tally went to South Suburban, Illinois, ranked #9.
Other notables in the top 20 are Kirkwood, Iowa at #12, and Parkland College, Illinois, the only team to beat NCMC this season, at #17 for a second consecutive week. A potential Pirate postseason opponent, Arkansas State Mid-South, sits at #19, downed four spots from a week ago.
The Pirates of North Central Missouri College are off until hosting Ellsworth (Iowa) Community College in the back-end of a women’s/men’s doubleheader at the Ketcham Community Center on Wednesday, January 8th, with the women’s tip at 5:30 and the men to follow at 7:30.
The next NJCAA D-2 men’s basketball poll will be released on Monday, January 6th.
